Furnace assembly



May 16, 1939. R. B. ROCK FURNACE ASSEMBLY Filed June 4, 1937 INVENTOR. BY ROBERT B. @061:

ATTORNEY.

Patented May 16, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to furnaces which are especially designed to modernize the heating means for homes and particularly of the air circulating type.

So far as known, the hot air furnaces now in use are not as efficient as they should be nor are they economically produced when fully equipped with automatic control. This is especially true concerning furnaces which have the dual function of heating and cooling.

An object of this invention is to produce an air furnace which is fully automatic and economical to manufacture and install.

Another object of the invention is to present an air furnace with means to evenly and economically heat the interior of the furnace and provide means to accumulate and hold much of the heat not immediately flowing to places to be used which would ordinarily be dissipated to the atmosphere.

Another object is to cool air, utilizing the ordinary heat distributing ducts of a building when the furnace is not operating as a heater. Whenever a demand exists for cool air instead of hot air, it is merely necessary to operate the furnace accessories but, not the heating means itself.

Another object is to present an air heating furnace which is entirely automatic in operation so as to supply properly tempered fresh invigorating air when demanded.

A still further object is to present a furnace with an appurtenance to odorize, medicate and otherwise treat the supply oi air to a chamber.

Having disclosed some of the major features and objects of my invention, I provide herewith a drawing and specification to show a specific embodiment thereof but, it is expressly under stood that the drawing and specification are not to limit the scope of my invention except as limited by the appended claims.

Inthe drawing:

Figure 1 shows an elevation of the furnace and associated parts, many parts being shown in section.

Figure 2 shows an elevation of a furnace pilot and thermostat.

The numerals I and 2 represent the inner and outer metallic shells respectively, of the furnace for encasing the insulation 3 which may be of any suitable character such as asbestos, rock wool or the like, sufficient insulation being employed to prevent appreciable heat loss to the surrounding medium. The bottom wall 4 may or may not be insulated, but is preferably of heavier gauge metal, as shown, to support the air entering the preheating chamber.

inner furnace elements which will presently be described. Angle iron legs 5 support the entire furnace body above the floor of the building to be heated.

Within the outer furnace walls are two spaced apart inverted conical-like elements 6 and 1 nested to form a combustion space 8. The space 8 leads upwardly to a horizontal space 9 which connects with a stack Ii! to pass the combustion gases to the atmosphere or any other desirable place. A hand controlled damper ii is shown to regulate the escape of the combustion gases. The walls of the element 1 form a central air heating chamber i2. Available city gas is utilized for fuel and is conducted into the furn-ace through a pipe I 3 which enters a mixing chamber M. A well known pressure regulator I3 and an orifice iii, to cause a back pressure, are provided in pipe 1'3 to maintain a constant gas pressure in the furnace burners iii.

The space it is a mixing chamber and receives preheated air from an upper chamber it via a plurality of ports it. The mixture is then passed to ports It where it is burned in the chamber 8. A pipe ll with a flared end i8;. conducts the air into the preheating chamber 15. A manual valve 59 regulates the amount of The ingress end of the pipe i and its valve are shown located at the bottom of the main air duct which enters the central hot air chamber 12. The valve 99, however, is regulated from a point outside of the duct for convenience.

Gas entering the pipe is is regulated by a hand valve 2i. The gas is automatically admitted to the furnace by the electrically operated valve 22; the valve being opened or closed dependent upon whether or not the electrical solenoid 23 is energized and pulls the weighted valve stem 24 upwardly or is not energized and. allows the valve stem to drop by gravity closing the valve. Manual control valves i9 and T2! are regulated so as to give a proper mix ture of air and gas in the mixingchamber It so when ignited at the ports it which surround the chamber 15, a high heat and efiicient flame will result.

Ports 25 in the bottom wall of combustion sp-ac El aifords an additional supply of air to aid combustion. These ports surround the chamber M to assure a plentiful supply of air. The walls 5 and 'l are of heavy gauge and of suitable metal and are capable of standing 2. high heat and will under ordinary heating from the burners it, become cherry-red in color.

Enough heat is I stored in these metallic walls so that they will give off heat for an appreciable length of time after the gas has been turned off. The wall I is of an inverted conical-like shape and is so projected over the burners l6 that the flame will continually lick its surface; the rising heat passing over large areas of Wall ll so as to be absorbed and conducted through the wall to the air in chamber 52.

The air blower 26, operated by an electrical motor 26, sucks air in through an enlarged opening 21 of the duct 20. The air is forced downwardly into the hot air chamber 12 by the curved portion 28 of the duct. The air in this chamber is rapidly heated by the walls 1 and is forced through the collar-like openings 29 into the space 30. An opening 3| at the bottom of this space, permits the heated air to enter the duct 32 and be conducted to a plurality of pipes 33 which lead to various rooms to be air-conditioned.

The enlarged portion 21, at one end of the air duct 29, is in the form of a cylinder 34 which has suificient space to accommodate an absorbent fabric or cloth 35 in an inclined position as shown. This cloth will permit air to pass into the duct 20 but not dust and other foreign solids. A nozzle 36, connected to a water pipe 3?, injects water as a fine mist or spray into the chamber of the cylinder 34 and wets the cloth 35. This moisture cleans the air and also cools and humidifies the air when the air is warm and sufiiciently dry to evaporate an appreciable amount of the water. An upturned edge 38 at the bottom of the cylinder provides a receptacle to prevent surplus water from leaving the cylinder 34 except via the drain 39 which leads to a sewer. The water pipe 3'! has a hand valve 43 and an automatic valve 4!, the valve stem of which is controlled by an electric solenoid 42.

The advantages of preventing the air of a room from becoming too dry are well known and will not be explained here. Whenever it is desired to cool and not heat the room, the water and blower are operated without the burners. The water mist from nozzle 36 will, by the well known principle of evaporation, cool the incoming air and hence the room to where it is lead. The hand valve 40 is provided to regulate the size of the water spray and the electrically controlled valve 4| the turning on and off of the water supply. The valve 4! is the same type as valve 22 and no further explanation is deemed necessary. It is necessary to note, however, that when the solenoid 42 of the valve Al is energized, the valve is opened for the flow of water whereas when the solenoid is not energized the valve is closed by gravity.

A pilot burner 43 is provided in the fire chamber 8 to ignite the fuel mixture flowing through the perforations 16. The tip of the pilot burner is adjacent the burner I6 so as to readily ignite the gas mixture emitted therefrom. The pilot burner is supplied with gas from the pipe 44 which connects with the gas line I3 at 45.

The pilot may be of any well known kind containing (Figure 2) a tip -36 fixed to an electrically grounded base 41. A coupling 48 connecting the tip with the gas pipe 44, One end of the base is turned up to form a support for an electrical binding post 49 insulated from the base. One end of the post is provided with the usual platinum alloy tip 53. A standard supports a thermo-metallic element 52 having a part thereof 53 exposed to the heat of the pilot flame 54. The

heat of the flame causing the arm 55 having the platinum alloy tip 56 to move toward the tip 50, tips 50 and 56, when touching, electrically grounding the binding post 49.

Thermostats 60 and 6| of any suitable type may be employed for controlling the operation of solenoids 23 and 42 and, also the electric motor 26. The thermostat 30 is designed to close all contacts in the mercury tube 62 when the room temperature is at some predetermined low point in accordance with the setting of the thermostat which may be at 70 F. A sylphon 63 by means of well known mechanism, causes the tube 62 to be rocked so as to close and open the connected circuit and thus close and open the two valves 22, ll and stop and start the fan 26. Wire terminals 63, 65 and 63 are connected with the mercury tube through flexible wires. The thermostat 6! is substantially the same as 60 except that only two wire terminals 61 and 68 are provided. This thermostat may be set to close the connection between wires l2, l6 and 73 at some relatively high temperature which may be 85 F. At such a temperature, the air blower and water would operate to cool the incoming air and hence the rooms of the building. Since such thermostats are well known, no further explanation is given.

A switch is provided to control electric current from any desirable source, one side of which is grounded to earth. Either direct or alternating current at the usual available voltage and frequencies may be used. From one terminal of the switch leads a wire H which has two branches, one branch 12 being connected to the terminal 66 of thermostat 6E; and the other branch i3 to terminal 68 of thermostat 5!. Wire M connected to terminal 67, leads to one end of the solenoid winding Q2, a branch to one terminal of the motor 2% and, another branch it to terminal 65 of thermostat 6% A return wire 11 from switch 10 is connected with the other terminal of motor 26' and the other end of the winding of solenoid 42. When the mercury of thermostat 3| closes the circuit, solenoid 42 is energized and opens the valve 4! to spray water upon and wet the fabric 35; at the same time the motor 25' operates the fan to force air into the furnace chamber l2, through passages 29, chamber 3!! and hence to the rooms to be air conditioned via of ducts 32 and 33. Note, that the air is not heated through operation of thermostat 6i.

Thermostat 8E controls the gas valve 22 in order to heat the air bound for the rooms, and also opens the water valve M and starts the fan motor 25'. When the switch of thermostat Si) is closed, current passes through wires 73 and M to energize solenoid 42 and open valve 4| and, also through wire 75 to operate the motor of fan 26. Wire 78 is also connected to mercury switch 62 and carries current to solenoid 23 to open valve 22 providing the circuit is completed to ground through thermostat in pilot assembly 43 so that current will pass through the winding of the solenoid and wire Hi. This circuit will be complete if the pilot burner 46 is burning so that the points 50 and 56 are in contact. The purpose of the pilot-thermostat assembly is to prevent the heating gas from being turned on unless the pilot is burning.

The numeral 88 of the drawing indicates a cabinet with a door, not shown, for housing containers which are filled with various liquids to be conducted through a pipe 8| controlled by hand valve 32. A flared opening 83 of the pipe 8! is a means for directing drippings into the pipe 8!. The pipe 8| passes into and is terminated in the large pipe 20. The pipe 8| fits tightly in a hole of the duct 20 and is spaced a short distance above a plate 84 upon which.

the drippings from pipe 8| fall. The plate is fixed in any suitable way upon the top of valve 19. One of the containers 85, is held inverted over the funnel 83 by a spring band 86 which tightly grips it. A post 81 fixed to the top wall of the cabinet firmly holds the band in place. Any well known cork type dropper may be inserted into the neck of the bottle to assure a continual series of drops falling upon the plate 84. Brackets 88 may be used to hold the cabinet upon an outer wall of the furnace or upon a wall of one of the rooms being air conditioned. The liquid falling from the containers 85 upon plate 86, evaporates and is carried by the air in duct 21) to the room or rooms being air treated. The containers or jars may hold different liquids; f. i. one jar may hold a deodorant such as perfumery to give the room a pleasant fragrance, one of the other jars may hold a germicidal such as formaldehyde or sulphur dioxide in solution and, the third jar may hold a liquid which, when carried into the room in its vapor form by the circulating air will discourage the entrance of house flies and mosquitoes.

Having set forth a description of my invention so as to teach one skilled in the art to make and use the same, I claim the following:

l. A furnace assembly, a plurality of walls forming an air heating chamber having an inverted frusto-conical shape, said chamber having an inlet and outlet to receive and emit, respectively, the air to be heated, other walls spaced from and surrounding the first mentioned walls to form a fire chamber, insulated walls spaced from and surrounding the second mentioned walls to form a secondary heating chamber having an outlet near its bottom, the outlet of said first chamber opening into the upper portion of the secondary heating chamber.

2. In an air heater, a housing formed of insulated top and side walls and a bottom wall, a heat conducting inverted frusto-conical hollow unit within the housing and spaced therefrom to form an air circulating passage, a heat conducting inverted frusto-conical liner within the unit and spaced therefrom to form a fuel burning chamber therebetween and an air heating space within the liner, means for burning fuel in said chamber, a flue at the central top portion of the chamber, means for admitting fresh air into the air heating space, perforations through the top of the liner and unit to form isolated passages surrounding said flue for escape of heated air from the space into the circulating passage, means at the bottom of the passage for conducting heated air therefrom to the room or rooms to be heated.

:5. In a furnace, a heating unit, heat conducting walls forming a top chamber in the unit for heating air for conduction to the room to be heated, a bottom chamber for mixing a fuel and preheated air, and an intermediate chamber for preheating the air destined for the bottom chamber, a perforated wall separating the bottom and intermediate chambers, a wall isolating the top and intermediate chambers, and means for passing preheated air through the top chamber and into the intermediate chamber.

4. A heating unit, heat conducting walls forming adjacent superposed chambers including a top chamber for air to be heated, a central chamber for preheating air to aid combustiom.

and a bottom chamber for mixing fuel with preheated air to make a highly combustible mixture, means connected with the bottom chamber for burning the combustible mixture around the periphery of said chambers in a manner to heat them and their walls, a fuel inlet to the bottom chamber, a perforated wall between the central chamber and the bottom chamber so that the preheated air from the central chamber is rapidly mixed with the fuel entering the bottom chamber.

5. In a furnace, nested inverted frusto-conical elements having the walls thereof spaced apart to form a combustion chamber therebetween and an air heating chamber within the inner element, walls forming a mixing chamber adjacent the bottom of said elements, walls forming a preheating chamber adjacent the bottom of the inner element and superimposed on the mixing chamber, means to supply large volumes of air to be heated into the heating chamber and means to conduct large volumes of air from the heating chamber to places to be heated, a duct passing through the supply means and through the heating chamber into the preheating chamber to supply the preheating chamber with warmed air and means permitting heated air from the preheating chamber to enter the mixing chamber.

6. The furnace recited in claim 3, said top chamber having inlet means to force the air to be heated downwardly therein, and a plurality of outlets through the top of the top chamber for escape of the heated air.

7'. The furnace recited in claim 3, said top chamber having an inlet for the air to be heated and top outlets for escape of the heated air, insulated walls spaced from and surrounding the unit and having an outlet for heated air near the bottom thereof connecting with rooms to be heated, said top outlets opening into a chamber formed by the insulated walls so that the heated air in the top chamber is free to pass therefrom through its top outlets, downwardly around the unit and then to the room or rooms to be heated.

8. The features set forth in claim 5 wherein said means is a wall perforated substantially over its entire area.

ROBERT B. ROCK. 

